CURIOUS CONVERSATION. 97 



steaks and chops that he hoped would soon pass from 

 outside the ribs of this animal to the inside of his own. 

 He pushed his fingers into the two bullet-holes, and then 

 waved his arm in indication of the dead doe behind us ; 

 then held up his three fingers, pointing two at the wounds 

 in the buck before us, and waving one in the direction 

 of the other animal shot, as much as to say " Three shots, 

 all hit." Then, as though he had satisfactorily decided an 

 important question, he placed his hand horizontally across 

 his mouth, looked steadily at me for half a minute, and 

 said, " e-ar-nesa, wena inkosi " (In truth, you are a chief) . 

 Poor Matuan ! he had not enjoyed such a feast of meat 

 for many months as I gave him on that and the following 

 night. 



We were obliged to get aid from a neighbouring 

 Kaffir's kraal to convey the meat home, each buck being 

 more than we could comfortably carry. I gave part of 

 the venison to Matuan, and retained the remainder for 

 the benefit of my host. 



A curious incident here happened, which struck me at 

 the time as very ridiculous. 



A French emigrant was stopping at this house with my 

 host, and being unable to speak a word of English, he 

 had great difficulty in making his wants known. It 

 happened that on leaving England I was a tolerable 

 French scholar, and could manage to converse; but a 

 year of disuse, and also the study of the Hottentot- 

 Dutch and Zulu-Kaffir languages, had driven all ray 

 French away, and upon being thus suddenly called upon, 

 I could scarce think of a word. This Frenchman had 



H 



